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Wednesday, September 28, 2016

I generally avoid painting pike armies as drilling out their tiny hands is a headache. When I painted up my War and Empire Pontics this summer, I was surprised by how quickly I managed to get through this stage. I leveraged that experience into a Pyrrhic army with 144 pike-carrying buggers. This was a big project so bear with me as I swamp your browser with picturess! First up are the group shots. I wasn't completely satisfied with these so I've got unit shots up too.

Phalangites were the mainstay of Pyrrhus of Epirus' army. They were sourced from Epirot,
Macedonia and the Tarantum. Fighting 15 deep, their angled pike sheltered men from the full effect of the Roman pilum. Polybus wrote "Nothing can withstand the frontal assault of the phalanx as long as it retains its characteristic formation and strength."

Thureophoroi were an all-purpose troop armed with a long
thrusting spear, javelins and a sword.
They could form up in loose or close formation and thus, operate in
rough terrain. According to Plutarch,
they could fight as skirmishers and then fall back, assume spears and tighten
their ranks. These do look the part!

Ellies! I added shields to these lovely models to keep them with the BYOB (bring your own brass) theme for this army. At the battle of Heraclea and Asculum, Phyrrus kept his elephants in reserve, a tactic common with the Successor armies.

Command Stands: Pyrrhus of Epirus is the commanding fellow in the center. Ancient historian Justin had this to say about Pyrrhus. "It is stated by authors that no king, either of that or the former age, was to be compared to Pyrrhus...and that he had such knowledge of the military art, that though he fought against great princes as Lysimachus, Demetrius and Antigonus, he was never conquered. In his wars too with the Illyrians, Sicilians, Romans and Carthaginians, he never came off inferior, but was generally successful."

Agema Heavy Cavalry. These figures could be used in your Macedonian or Successor armies as well. One of the great things about ancients is you can port some figures across multiple armies.

Tarantine Light Cavalry

Peltasts or as they're labelled on the War and Empire website, Italian Light Infantry. Lots of variety in this set!

Bolt Throwers: These will be paired with the Roman army I painted last year. This post is too long so I won't ramble on. Instead, it's off to the next project!